Congratulations to the Winners of the 11th Annual Ippies Awards

The Ippies are the only awards that exclusively recognize the achievements of New York’s independent ethnic and community media that report on the challenges and accomplishments of some 5 million immigrant and minority residents.

March 29, 2013 (New York, NY) – In an emotional ceremony, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism honored members of the independent ethnic and community media for excellence on Thursday evening, March 28, 2013. This was the 11th annual presentation of the Ippies Awards and the second organized by CUNY’s new Center for Community and Ethnic Media (CCEM). The judges reviewed 183 entries from a record 56 publications and a handful of freelance journalists. Winners received cash prizes totaling $8,250.

CCEM Executive Director Garry Pierre-Pierre said, “Ethnic media outlets provide a cultural, political, and educational lifeline to the 37 percent of the city’s population who speak little or no English. Although I spent much of my career in the mainstream media, I appreciate the fact that ethnic media serve as a bridge between new arrivals and more established immigrants and ensure that the next generation, though assimilated, remains connected to its heritage.”

According to the New York Press Association (NYPA), the combined circulation of 95 ethnic papers in New York City is 2.94 million, or about 28 percent of the city’s population, and the combined circulation of 80 weekly community newspapers is 1.6 million.

A CCEM census of New York City’s ethnic and community media cites 270 publications that serve the immigrant and minority populations, published in 36 languages. Eighteen of them are daily papers that are published in nine languages.

The keynote address was delivered by S. Mitra Kalita, commentary editor of the Atlantic Monthly’s new business website, Quartz, and the author of “Suburban Sahibs: Three immigrant families and their passage from India to America.” She asserted that digital journalism has brought ethnic and mainstream media closer together, but she praised the Ippies’ winners for their groundbreaking coverage of stories that the mainstream media has missed.

Best overall design of a print publication: Nueva Luz, a journal of fine art and documentary photography published three times a year, by Mirian Romais, Olga Omelchenko, Carla Williams and Quiana Mestrich